I have been thinking about ethics lately, and thought to give it a go and see what people think.
When talking about ethics, I feel many people react with a sort of “guilt” or I can’t keep up with that attitude, it is related to overly strict religious rules or ideals one is not abt to keep up with, eventually making one feel bad or thinking ethical conduct is not natural.
I don’t know if this correlates with others view or not, but this is sort of how I see it as per now.
Best is ethics arising as nature of mind, this, as I understand it from tantra, ethics beig a-moral. That is that no action or deed is “always” the right one, like Kant wanted it to be, because every situation is unique as well is each person’s path to liberation is unique. That is, a action is deemed “good” as I understand it, if it eliviates anothers and your own self-based confusing. Thus, the Buddhas toolkit is of limitless range, with no strict rules in terms of external activites, the only rule is that activities arise from ones own basic state of love and compassion.
The secod way I see ethics, which I think works for all people prior to recognizing awarness, is ethical guidelines, which are found in all religions, sociaties, cultures etc… often matching to the need of time and place. I don’t think of one being judged externally by a God. But Karma is real and actually a very “normal” phenomena. Meaning words, speech and actions stick on us.
As I see this, we are all carrying a backpack of stuff, good, bad and ugly, skills, history all kinds of things. In meeting the world we use these things from our backpack, we let some out and we put new things in continuously day and night. Some people have a heavy backpack with a lot of rocks, poison and shit, and some have a lighter one with fruits and diamonds, we all can imagine how these people are like, and might have some idea where we are ourself. Also this is always changing, your content change all the time so it is an impermanence-backpack.
To me good ethics means putting good stuff in the backpack, and releasing the bad stuff. At best, good ethics enables one to recognize our own nature, like bursting out something you have kept in forever in honesty, erasing that karmic imprint that hindered you from seeing yourself and being real.
So from that point of view, I don’t see ethics as something that is a matter of proving oneself or being guilty or any external measure… it is something that should help one heal, and also protect us from taking in unhealthy and damaging things into our backpack.
Guilt is still a ponder to me, how does it arise what is its cause? I will leave it to others to suggest, while I think myself. But if guilt is ones reaction on ethical behaviour, to me I wonder then if the backpack analogy works or not, if the ethics one then has been introduced to really helps one or not. As my understanding is that it should help us and others, it is natural and it is good. Societies and religions where ethics have become something bad, making our backpacks heavier and heavier, have missed the point of ethics totally.
Not sure how precise this is or if someone would add something, just some thoughts. Have a nice day.